Who's Calling Not-the-Ghost-Busters!
by Kolorful Kyandii
Summary: … The Russians. The Russians are calling Not-the-Ghost-Busters. Mai's long-time friend Yuri has finally had enough of the phenomena at her cousin's skating rink, Ice Castle, which had been escalating recently. (Crossover with Yuri on Ice)(Yurio x Mai)(Subtle Viktor x Yuuri)(Rated T for adult themes and ghosts)
1. Day 1 - Noon

Mai poked her head in the door timidly, the hinge squeaking as it opened. Both Naru and Lin, on the couch doing paperwork, paused to eye her in confusion; she had never hesitated walking into the office like this before. Naru couldn't help but instantly be suspicious of what sort of trouble the girl had managed to stir up again.

"Ah, hi." Mai greeted politely, stepping inside and allowing the door to close behind her. "Um, you see, there's this… thing that… I have a favor to ask."

Both quiet – demeanoured men merely blinked, waiting.

"See- my cousin's house, er, the place her family lives and works- ever since we were little it's been haunted, but we were just really used to it and thought it was our imagination from when we were kids, but lately-"

"No." Naru denied instantly.

"What?!"

"It's not interesting." Naru shrugged.

Mai's expression darkened. "Naru, this is the only family I have left we're talking about. My second cousin and childhood friend, and their six-year-old daughters. You-"

"That doesn't make it more interesting. No one's hurt right, it only barely escalated from what you wrote off as a kid's imagination? Then it's fine." Naru denied again vaguely, having gone back to his paperwork.

The door was quiet when it closed behind her, rather than slammed in anger – which took an amazing amount of effort on Mai's part, but making Lin pale, staring at the door after her for a bit then glancing at Naru before continuing his work, feeling almost afraid of the next time he would have to see the girl.

The phone rang, and Naru idly answered.

Ten minutes later, he ordered Lin to call in the entire team for a long-term case.

 _ **Day 1 – Noon**_

Mai watched from the window, snickering slightly as Naru almost dropped a couple cameras from the pile he was carrying up the steep steps, though she felt a bit bad for Takigawa and Lin who were similarly struggling with heavy equipment. But hey, at least Naru was being forced to actually do some of the real work, rather than his usual sitting in the base room staring as if he would see it even if something weird _did_ happen. Which it never had. Not that he would know, since he couldn't actually see spirits.

Okay so she was still extremely angry. But at least her case was being looked into – not that Naru knew that. She had called Yurio, who in turn called the office, neglecting to mention it was Mai who referred him, and agreed to return from his trip early – Viktor had taken him and Yuuri to a training camp in Canada, and Yurio had happily accepted the excuse to return, saying he 'could hear them through the wall and would sleep far more peacefully at the Utopia Katsuki', which Mai couldn't help but be amused about.

The two-story building threw the team into shadow. She watched through the viewing window staff area, tinted glass, as they entered the building – looking around almost awe-struck at the giant area behind the glass that housed the rink, shivering slightly. Mai grinned, proud for her cousin who worked so hard to maintain the live-in skating center.

Mai walked to the door, exiting the viewing platform and making her way over to peek around the corner to oversee the meeting.

"Welcome!" Yuuko was saying. "Judging by the equipment you're the Ghostbusters we called in?"

Mai had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing at the look that flashed across Naru's face before he managed to control it.

"We're Shibuya Psychic Research." Naru introduced, emphasizing the last word slightly without seeming to notice. "I'm Kazuya Shibuya, this is my assistant Koujo Lin, and these are Hara, John, Matsuzaki, Takigawa, and Yasuhara."

"I'm Yuuko Nishigori, and these are my daughters, Axel, Lutz, and Loop. My husband Takeshi is away picking something up at the store, but will return shortly." Yuuko introduced with a small polite bow.

"We require two rooms for our equipment and sleeping, are those ready?"

"Yes, it's right this way." Yuuko confirmed, waving her hand down the hall going left to the customer residency rooms meanwhile her daughters ran off towards the upstairs, no doubt to go annoy Yurio and the other skaters training in the workroom. "We might have to move you if this lasts more than two weeks – these rooms are meant for customers, we have lots of skate teams that come here for training camps you see, both school and professional. But that's just a maybe, only if we get a last-minute request, which is quite unusual."

Naru nodded once in understanding, though Mai could see the vaguely annoyed air about him in the tense of his shoulders.

"So what's been happening here. The person on the phone never identified himself but mentioned several things such as that he always feels like he's being watched here, odd writing reflected in the bathroom mirrors that isn't there when you turn around, strange sounds at night, odd lights, and warm furniture or air, which should be impossible here due to the building structure and upkeep of the rink? Also, he said that he'd finally had it with the place when something pushed him towards the rail out on the ice, when no one else was even in the rink."

Yuuko's eyes sparkled. "Yes indeed. I'm afraid he left out a few details though. This place has _always_ been haunted. Sometimes at night, the ice reflects the light strangely. Normally there is always a faint glow from it, even when we have the lights off, as it refracts light. Every now and then, the light reflecting onto the walls will flicker like it does when someone's skating in front of the refraction, or glimmer like it does when chips are thrown from a jump or hard turn. I grew up in this ring. If you've lived in a house a long time, you get to know the normal sounds it makes. Sometimes it unmistakably is reflecting far more light than is even present. When we were young and learning to skate, and we still get reports of this now, if we were about to fall every now and then someone would brush by us to help us get back our balance. That particular ghost has always been here, we were just so used to it that we took it as something that was _natural_ here. Last year when we realized it was a ghost all along, we named him Yukio-Sensei." She explained at length as she opened the door to what would be the base room, grinning.

"And the rest of the things he reported?"

The smile vanished. "Yurio-san – he didn't believe about it being haunted, though he did admit the ice was strange, until one day he tripped over a nick in the ice. He would have twisted his ankle but instead he was pushed toward the railing. What he didn't tell you, was that was two years ago. Two weeks ago, it all stopped. The lights, the helping hand. Then just last week… the rest started happening. Feeling like we're being watched, and not by Yukio-Sensei either. Randomly the air or benches will be warm. Due to the way we cool the ice, and the air conditioners, that should be completely impossible. There would be writing on the walls reflected in mirrors, that isn't there when we turn around. You'll hear someone messing with the skate blades or locker doors, the games in the arcade randomly turn on at night. Not one person has said anything about someone helping them. Yukio-Sensei is gone. Yurio-san hid the details of it being separate at the request of another long-time student because he thought it'd make you more interested for some reason, because those two types of things together indicate something different than having them separate?"

Naru's expression went flat. "And how did that student know about that? If your student did research on his own I please ask you discount it, it's usually quite wrong. This time however he was correct, it does in fact indicate that. Your ghost probably moved on, and there's most likely a problem with faulty wiring. That's it."

"My husband checked the wiring twice. I manage the rink itself, he does the rest and is a specialist at is as I am the ice and everything pertaining to it. I checked the rink equipment, and the air conditioners, twice; nothing amiss."

Mai decided this was a wonderful time to interrupt. "And," She began, catching the attention of the SRP members as she stepped into the base room after them, "Yukio-Sensei is still here, but very faintly, so it's not Yukio-Sensei doing this."

"M-… MAI-SAN?!" Takigawa yelped. "I thought you were taking this case off, and Lin said you would kill Naru the next time you-"

Ayako covered his mouth with her purse, then smacked him on the head. Mai grinned.

"Oh, no, I won't kill him, I'll settle for destroying his bloated self-confidence and willpower against me. And I am taking it off, I happen to be in the client base rather than the staff of SPR this time."

Ayako, Yuuko, and Masako, the only other girls, giggled knowingly.

"You were the one that requested my client keep back those details." Naru observed sharply.

"Yes." Mai answered easily in return. "You're a really horrible jerk you know. I need to protect my family and you refused to help. Let me guess, you assumed that because the ghost wasn't trying to kill me like the other actually interesting ones, that it wasn't worth your time. Well, this new phenomena has started scaring away more customers than it brings in and I wont allow this place to become in danger of being lost – I knew you would agree to it if I wasn't the one asking, so that's exactly what I set up, with thanks to a friend. And I really am taking this case off except to assist, I have training to catch up on."

Naru sighed. "Will you shut up if I take the case?"

"Oh, you want to and you know it you jerk." She replied, annoyed. "At least now that you've actually let me talk enough for people to explain."

"What a way to talk to one's boss-"

"Except you're not my boss, It's my day off, and so's tomorrow, and the next day, until this case ends – since you didn't bring me along on it as an employee. So I am not only a civilian, but also directly affiliated with the person paying you."

Naru remained silent, glaring deeply.

"Anyway, I'll be in the work room if anyone needs me. Ah, and if you guys want a tour, just send someone to come ask!" Mai informed, sing-song.

"Have fun with your revenge!" Yuuko called after her pleasantly. "And switch out Harmony for S-Mix while you're passing the control panel, Yurio-san said he wanted to go over the Mechta Pair routines later to keep them sharp, the theme isn't announced yet so we don't know which one to use."

Mai's eyes lit up "Vicchan approved Mechta theme for the free?!" Mai squealed, and Yuuko nodded grinning widely, and giggled, making Mai flush a deep red at her teasing look.

"Ehhh! I will, I will! … and stop looking at me like that!" Mai agreed, blushing brighter and disappearing down the hall as she sprinted away, turning right into the Staff Room and quickly switching out the CD, then running down the hall to the equipment room.

Yurio looked up as she entered and poured out the news about the competition skate, rewarding her with one of his rare wide smiles.


	2. Day 1 - Afternoon

_**Day 1 – Afternoon**_

When Takigawa and Ayako walked into the room with arms loaded full of equipment, all conversation in the room ground to a halt. Both SPR specialists stood still, rather surprised at the sight that greeted them, while the skaters stared in annoyance at the interruption.

"Er – Hi. Wow, we hadn't seen a single other person in the building, so this is where the party is eh?" Takigawa tried.

"Hi Monk." Mai chirped, both her and Yurio letting down the foot they'd been holding in the air, stretching. "Yeah this and the arcade are people's hangouts for when not practicing."

"Why Mai I had no idea you were so flexible. I'm sure Naru will appreciate it." Monk teased, cheering at her happy tone.

Mai laughed somewhat awkwardly, feeling the absolute shock of Yurio in his disbelieving gaze. "Like he could get close enough to know."

Yurio's eyes flicked to the newcomers, glaring deeply. "Ve have to stay off za ice because of you freaks and setting up your dumb equipment in za rink. Stop adding to za list of reasons you don't belong here, we don't need any more outsiders or idiots." The Russian Fairy growled venomously at them, accent plaintive.

Mai stifled her laugh with a cough, choking just a little bit and covering her mouth to hide the smile. Yurio huffed, snatching his bag and walking out the side door towards the mens lockers.

Mai couldn't take it and burst out into giggles.

Takigawa and Ayako, who for their parts had looked incredibly offended, frowned.

"You find him insulting us funny? How rude." Ayako sniffed.

"You guys cut him off from the ice- He's… he's like a puppy with separation issues freaking out at the window, when his master goes outside to get the mail and pets another dog passing by! That… that was..." She explained breathlessly, holding her sides as it brought on an even stronger wave of laughter.

At the image, the triplets, whom had been over in the corner coloring, joined her in laughter.

"Oh, oh! What kind of dog would he be Nee-Chan?" Loop asked excitedly, racing over to bounce at her heels.

"A poodle." Mai answered immediately. "He's way too self confident in how pretty he is, thinks he owns the house, likes being active and if he gets bored we're all done for."

The triplets paused.

"You're right, he's a poodle." Lux acknowledged softly after a contemplative moment.

The few other skaters dotted across the benches and exercise equipment cracked up.

"I don't get it." Ayako sighed, "But I really don't care. I'm going back to base, I've been hauling these cameras for hours now, and I need tea."

Mai gave her a small wave. "Bye Ayako! I'll see you later, okay!"

The door shut behind her with a click as the same time as the door to the locker rooms opened again, Yurio in the doorway with his skates dangling from one hand and bag tossed over the other – he'd changed from his gym clothes to the casual stretch ones they used in the rink, no doubt waiting for the moment SPR finished taking the temperature and other readings so they could go out on the ice.

Everyone stared at him.

"… Vhat."

The room burst out laughing again, Takigawa glancing around cluelessly.

Yurio threw his gym bag at Mai, knowing it was somehow her fault, which she dodged.

Takigawa finally seemed to just shrug it off, heading over to the corner of the room to set up the camera, take wall measurements, temperatures, and do the marble test to check if the floor slanted. Mai helped out of habit, forgetting she was supposed to be not working to spite Naru, getting lost back in conversation with Yurio as they continued their debate on what to expect from the next routine, talking over each other but easily understanding the full intent of each sentence as they parried.

"So you really think he'd make us do a quad-combo with such a small time left-"

"Nah, maybe not, ve wouldn't vant to risk it, but he does vant us to keep improving even zough pair skate isn't as important as Vorlds, he'd have us do something new that is beyond our last level at least once-"

"We already managed a combination spin-"

"Exactly, za only thing ve can't get is some of za jumps vith more airtime-"

"Well there's no way he would make us do a Lutz! I can barely land one as it is, I'm not good with edge-" Mai paused working in horror at the idea.

"But you can, so he might, just like in first competition vith Katsuki, and he did say we vould do some high-attitude sequences in za next-"

"But they haven't given a bye or even announced what sort-"

"It's just a small niet-discipline type, I'll most likely be free, so they might use Zayak rule, he'd vant us to-"

"True." Mai agreed, frowning. "But I still can't manage a clean loop yet. Heck I just managed to get right attitude for the pair deep outside edge since we were working on the jumps so much-"

"We could do it cross, after step sequence split-"

Monk interrupted. "How are you guys even understanding each other?" He asked, half amused half dubious.

Mai and Yurio, distracted, stared at him in confusion as they tried to comprehend the sudden switch from discussing the routine to normal conversation.

"Ehhh?" Mai finally managed vaguely, confused.

"You kept interrupting each other, I couldn't even follow the topic!" Monk snickered.

Both of them stared blankly. "… Oh…"

"How long have you two known each other anyway?"

"Ummm..." They exchanged a glance. "Well, we distantly knew each other for like five years before actually talking for the first time." Mai explained, wording herself carefully. "And then a couple years ago through luck of the draw at a friend's interview, we got partnered up for a two-person skate – freak'n Viktor and his insistence on showing off his students' versatility! -, and he coincidentally moved here soon after. So from then on since we have experience working together, we always apply for any pair competitions as a team."

"Ooooh, okay. Wait, you skate?"

Yurio smacked himself in the face, sighed, and walked over to the ballet bar, and he stuck one leg straight up in the air in a standing midair split, leaning on the bar to keep his balance, and decided checking his phone was more productive then socializing.

Monk gave him a wide-eyed stare. "That… that looks painful." He said when Yurio glanced at him for staring.

"Vhat does." Yurio returned, uncomprehending. After another moment of Takigawa staring, he turned to other sources. "Mai?"

"He means the Beillmann stretch." Mai explained.

"Huh? Why vould it be painful?"

"Normal people can't do that, Yurio."

"… They can't?"

"Nope."

"You call Mai by her first name?" Takigawa asked in an odd tone of voice.

"What is it with all za questions?" Yurio growled, annoyed again, and went back to his phone.

Takigawa frowned, finishing the room set up by clicking the SD card into the camera, where it was unobtrusively set up in the corner of the room. "Mai-san, would you show us the way to any other rooms that may be a source?"

"Sure." Mai nodded. "The storage rooms would probably be the most likely, upstairs."

"Oh, Naru and Yasu are up there looking for blueprints and checking it over for haunted items."

"Well, let's go see how they're doing." Mai chirped, heading for the door. Yurio leaned back so he was on both feet again, picking up his gym bag and skates and tossing them in the equipment cubbies on the way by as they passed, following a few steps behind.

Takigawa glanced over his shoulder at him awkwardly. "You're coming too?" He queried, disconcerted by the bad-tempered 17 year old. Yurio gave her a look as if she'd said the strangest and dumbest thing he had ever heard.

Mai was struck by sudden inspiration. "Oh! That's it, guys, I have an idea! Monk, just ignore Yurio once we reach Naru and Yasu! Pretend like his presence is completely normal, thin air, don't respond if he says anything, if they ask who he is just play innocent and look around then ask who they mean. Yurio, just like… drift along behind me like you usually do, don't touch anything, and don't say anything either! Be a ghost! You get the plan?"

Yurio gave her a sideways smirk of understanding and a salute. "Brilliant. I've taught you vell."

"You're a bad influence on me." She informed him.

Mai snatched the pen and notepad form the pile of supplies Monk was carrying, quickly scrawling out a note to give Yasu explaining the prank and what to do. Just in case, to make sure he went along with it, she wrote a small blackmail note at the end about spreading the pictures she'd taken of an incident last year involving a pizza, a random pair of satin women's underwear Masako had been given with a gift set, and a passing dog.

"In Soviet Rrrussia," Yurio began, intentionally playing up his accent until it was so thick it slurred his Japanese, "Ghost run avay from Russian Voman screaming for help. Except if ghost Russian also, zen both end up playink kards forrr vodka shots."

Mai giggled, and returned the salute. "Operation Prank Naru Phase Two, begin! Oh and just a reminder about what I said before Yurio, about keeping _that fact_ and _the other thing_ secret from Naru until the right moment."

Yurio nodded once, sly grin still in place. "I remember. Ahh, destroying people is so fun, I can hardly vait."

"What are you planning?" Takigawa asked, half amused half apprehensive. "Don't go overboard okay..."

"Define overboard." Mai shot down impassively as they reached the storage room, opening the door for the others to pass through since Takigawa and Ayako had their arms full of cameras, wires, and other things to set up. Yurio leaned against the door frame once inside, eyes flickering over the new faces.

"Hello Yasu." Mai greeted calmly, slipping the note into his hand as she hugged him in greeting, glanced at Naru, then back at the note meaningfully.

"Hey Mai-san, Nishigori-san said the rink's blueprints were in here somewhere?" He asked, turning away from Naru to hide it as he unfolded the note and scanned it.

"Yep." Mai nodded, glancing at the boxes scattered around. "This is where they keep anything like decorations or the family's memorabilia, so if the ghost came in attached to an item it would be here. The storage rooms for stuff like ice tools and the toolbox they keep downstairs. The blueprint though isn't exactly used much so would most likely be here."

Naru gestured to show he'd heard, rifling through a pile of papers he'd found in one box.

Mai's gaze lit on the contents of the next box Yasu pulled from the shelf. "Ehh, the nerf guns! I remember those, from rally day last year!" She reminisced, pulling out the two belt-loaded machine nerfs, one in each hand. After a moment of considering, she turned and placed them on the small table a few steps away then returned to help Yasu lift the next box.

Yurio took a couple light steps away from the door, hands folded nonchalantly behind his back, leaning over a bit as he pretended to curiously observe the nerf guns without touching them.

"Hey, you. This is staff only area." Naru waved him away distractedly.

Yurio, for his part, completely stopped any movement and looked up, locking his eyes intently on Naru, expression blank, and didn't say a single word.

After a moment Naru seemed to become uncomfortable with the piercing green gaze, and glared a bit. "Yes you, did you not understand? We're working, please leave. We don't have time for civilian questions right now."

Mai took the chance, feigning hesitance. "...Uh, Naru? Who are you talking to?"

Naru blinked, breaking the stare to look at her, then back to Yurio, then at her again. "Do you sense anything?"

"Huh? No, why?" Mai wondered, glancing around as if scanning once, not letting her eyes rest on Yurio.

Naru pointed at him. "Then tell the customer to get out."

Takigawa, with a hidden air of mischief, decided to chip in. "… There's no one here, Naru."

Mai took a hop skip over to Naru, putting a hand agains this forehead before he could stop her and drawing on her very best acting skills to seem worried. "Naru? Are you feeling okay, do you have a fever?"

Naru swiped his hand to the side to lightly remove her hand, glaring in annoyance. "I'm fine." He replied shortly, turning back to rifle through the boxes.

"… If you say so. Don't be paranoid just because we haven't had a case in a while, okay?" She returned disbelievingly. Yurio took a few steps forward to hover directly behind her shoulder, giving Naru a disapproving frown then nod as if telling him he should listen to her advice.

After that he stuck to her like glue as she moved around the room and shelves, using his knowledge of her movements from training to predict her and lean over her shoulder to peer at what she was doing when she went through boxes.

This went on for quite a while, Naru occasionally glancing at Yurio with a very strange look on his face.


	3. Day 1 - Evening

_**Day 1 – Evening**_

"Found it!" Takigawa said at last, shoving over some boxes that had been put on the table to spread out the parchment. The layout was one Mai was familiar with; she didn't need it to tell them about the high arches of the main rink, then on either side of the huge space were two story buildings creating the walls, further insulating the area. The ground and sky floors in the back were where Yuuko's family lived, and the ground floor in the front was directly connected to the rink, providing a wide entrance to the area, making it viewable from the front doors.

"This place is huge." Yasu murmured.

"Yeah. Okay, so back there, that little hall leading to the back? That leads to the staff residences, there's been no incidents in that part of the building past the hall ever, not even from Yukio-Sensei, so don't worry about past there. In the front, we have the ground floor which is built directly into the rink area with not much in the way of walls blocking it except supports. If you're standing in the ring, the right side of that is taken up by the entryway for skate rentals at the front there, the storerooms are in the back of that. Behind that are the customer rooms that they gave us for base, which are only accessible by circling around into the rink walkway then into the hall at the end of the rink." Mai explained, pointing at each area only made with lines – it wasn't labeled. "Front ground floor has the arcade and cafe corner, and this bit here is where we were before, the exercise room at the front of the building. The exercise room connects through the side to the locker rooms, and through there to the rink area, if you need to get there quickly. The third door from the workroom there, that's the only entrance to the front sky floor except the staff stairs, which is probably what you used. The exercise room stairs go up to the viewing platform, it overlooks both the rink and front doors, it's huge – they teach dance classes there too. The second half of the sky floor is led to by the staff stairs, it goes to the control booth with the controls for the rink like music and lights which overlooks the rink, then the part overlooking the front is this storage room, the spare room they use for the rare conference, and… well never mind the last room, it's the one place you're not allowed – I can go there if you need anything. But there's never been any incidents in any of the staff areas, including there, though we have seen the wall-writing on the sky floor in the viewing room but no further."

Mai cleared her throat, leaning back to signify she was done talking, kind of wishing she had a drink of water.

"It's like a mansion." Yasu observed. "Neh, it just might be as big as my school."

Mai smiled. "Nah, not nearly. It's just huge – rinks cost a lot of money. That's why I asked for SPR's help – the skating business isn't easily lucrative and if the balance there is interrupted by a major loss of patrons, like those afraid to come back, they would have to close the entire place and be left with nothing from the fees. It's not just skaters here – the dancing taught upstairs, the arcade and cafe, the teams. Everything. People's entire careers and ways of life would be on the line, so I acted quickly and asked even though it's barely been happening a week, rather than taking the risk I couldn't handle it myself."

Takigawa give her a sorrowful look, eyes shining. "Oh, Mai-chan." He cooed in his usual teasing overdramatic brotherly act, side-stepping the corner of the table to fling his arms around Mai. "You're always so honest."

Yurio couldn't help the tiniest amused scoff. Naru stared at him. Mai, hidden in Takigawa shoulder, bit her lip to keep her face straight once he leaned away.

"Alright, enough. Get back to work, we still need to set up the cameras in the rink and main area." Naru commanded, re-centering them on what needed to be done.

"Oh! Naru, I think we should kinda take the others all out on the ice? So like, when they're taking the temperatures, they can actually do it by themselves? I could teach them. You know, just enough that they know what to expect."

"Unnecessary."

Mai tipped her head at him. "You've skated before?"

"No, but I could figure it out." Naru stated with certainty. "I have experience in many areas, including dance, I am a member of high society after all."

"Ha! Right. You really think that any sort of dance class can prepare you for balancing on knives 1/8th of an inch wide on a virtually frictionless surface?" Mai challenged, far more entertained than convinced.

Naru paused, a vaguely uncertain look stealing across his face for a split second as he took a moment to actually consider Mai's description.

"Just a short lesson. You know, so that they can at least move forward or stop, just in case they need to run away or something?"

Naru sighed deeply. "Fine. Yasu, go get Hara, and tell Lin to keep base, then get the rest of the things we need to set up on the ice. Meet ready to go at the ice in fifteen minutes."

Yasu nodded and walked to the door, giving them a wave as he left.

"This had better be necessary." Naru growled, as he did the routine double-check on the camera Takigawa had set up, giving the other a nod of approval.

"You'd be surprised how much stuff happens on that ice." Mai answered with a secret smile.

"You vould know." Yurio teased lightly. Yasu jumped, staring at the petite blonde in surprise at the sound of his voice.

"That's a two-way street." She murmured slyly in reply.

Naru paused, eyes flicking back and forth between both of them sharply. "So, you _can_ see him."

"Whoops." Mai pursed her lips sullenly. "The jig's up I guess."

"Who are you." Naru demanded, looking ready to assign someone extra paperwork and trying and failing to hide his surprise at the accent – obviously wondering what the heck a Russian was doing in an ice skating rink that not only knew Mai but had tried to pull one over from him from the first moment.

Yurio smiled maliciously. "Your client. Za one paying you." He revealed bluntly. Takigawa made a surprised noise, and Naru did a double take, then crossed his arm, re-directing the glare at Mai.

"Explain."

"Like I said before, I knew you wouldn't take the case from me, so I asked him to ask you instead, and would you look at that, you took the case."

"And how do you intend to pay this person back for the extreme fees SPR charges? I know for fact it would take years if you just gave him a bit of every paycheck. So if you were to add another job on top of school, living expenses, and SPR, how long would that take?" Naru reprimanded harshly.

"Unlike you," Yurio hissed furiously in response, taking offense, "I don't trick friends by lying to zem about fake debts to manipulate zem. Mai owes me nothing. In fact if you want to get technical I owe her. You don't have to worry about your precious little assistant quitting so lay off."

"For what." Naru demanded immediately. "When and what happened with my employee that you would discount such a favor?"

Yurio's expression when curiously blank, and there was a moment of silence. "… You'd be surprised how much stuff happens on za ice. What happens on za ice stays on za ice."

Mai made an odd sound, half terror and shock half surprised laughter, whirling around to snatch the nerf gun from the table – she knew exactly what he was referring to. But these were her coworkers! "Bad! _Bad poodle!_ " She cried, and shot him point-blank with one of the soft foam bullets before he could move. Yurio snatched the other nerf gun with no hesitation and returned fire. Mai squealed as she tried to dodge and failed, darting for the door while laughing uncontrollably. Yurio was after her in an instant, and they disappeared further down the hall in the blink of an eye.

Mai tore around the corner, ducking through the doorway to the conference room and speeding to the other side of the long room to go through the door on the other side of the room, bursting out into the viewing room and screeching to a halt as she came face to face with John, nearly crashing into him. John squeaked and took a step back from where he had been leaning against the huge double-thick floor to ceiling tinted windows at the shining ice in awe. She slammed the door behind her to slow Yurio down.

"SORRY! Hi John, bye John!" She apologized, slipping as she tried to redirect course and catching herself with one hand, sprinting headlong towards the curtains hiding a small raised platform they used as a practice stage, in the corner of the huge multipurpose/ballet room.

The door flew open, both her and Yurio firing off two shots immediately, angled upwards to accommodate for the slightly larger distance she had earned. Both of them missed. Yurio sprinted closer so he could aim more directly, ducking and spinning in what Mai recognized as some of his trained ballet moves to dodge. Mai used the curtains as a shield as they exchanged volleys, until he finally took a hit.

Yurio darted back to the safety of the conference room, Mai running after him on a long track down the hall, past the storage room, down the stairs, around the rink, weaving through the games at the arcade, and down the other hall, both of them dodging from open door to door until at last Yurio's nerf gun ran out of bullets, only clicking when he tried to fire.

"Got you now!" Mai exclaimed.

"Not likely!" The Russian countered, making a strategic retreat a couple doors down to Mai's room – rather, the small customer room she used routinely every Saturday night. Since she didn't have work or school Saturday afternoon until Monday morning, she always spent the one weekend night in 'her room' - thus, Yurio of course thought he had every right to hide there. Too bad for him she knew the layout of the room just as well as he did. Mai threw open the door without pause, darting inside with nerf gun pointed towards the door to the bathroom-

The front door slammed shut behind her and the nerf gun was wrenched from her hands in the same moment, throwing the room into pitch dark, and Mai froze for only an instant before she found herself pinned to the wall, unarmed.

"I vin." Yurio whispered in her ear in the dark, still panting slightly with exertion from the run. Mai shivered, reaching out to put her arms around him and draw him closer, brushing her lips every so lightly along his. Yurio captured her mouth forcefully, weaving one hand into her hair to tilt her head back, pressing down for a few moments then separating to breathe before returning, taking a step forward so his body was pressed firmly against hers. Mai reached up to tangle her hands into his fine blonde hair, arching her spine a bit so she curved against him.

Mai gasped in air when he finally released her, trailing kisses slowly down the column of her throat, nipping gently at her pulse point. Mai moaned, sliding one hand down his back and up under his shirt, tracing patterns on warm skin. Yurio broke away just long enough to grab the hem of his shirt and pull it off in one motion. He rewarded Mai by sliding one leg up along hers to settle his knee deliciously between her thighs, drawing a please noise from her.

Someone knocked on the door. Yurio glanced over, glaring, as if the wood rather than the person outside had done something to offend him, then much to Mai's amusement completely ignored it and returned to kissing her instead, tongue flickering over hers lips. Mai returned the teasing touch, tipping her head to the side to give him better access.

Again, insistently, came the knock on the door.

"Otva`li, ty pridurok!" Yurio snarled something in Russian, finally forced to disengage, and took the few steps to the door, flinging it open in annoyance. "WHAT!" He demanded.

Lin stared with the most dramatic expression of shock she had ever seen on his face, even more so than the time she had been possessed and tackle-hugged him. One had was frozen in the air, the other holding his phone half-raised.

There was a silence.

 _"Oh!"_ Yuuko's voice filled the resounding stillness from over the phone. _"Sounds like they're there after all, see, I knew they probably were! Bye!"_ She said cheerily, then the line disconnected.

Lin still didn't move an inch, eyes flicking between the shirtless Russian and Mai, standing behind him with her appearance quite mussed.

"And who." The most quiet and polite SPR member demanded, "Is he."

"You'd have to report any details back to Naru as requirement, right? But as it is, it's just assumption, isn't it. It's none of his business."

"Mai-san, if you're trying to make him jealous there are better ways-"

Mai sighed. "Really, why does everyone think I'm in love with Naru? Because Masako said so? I just like making the tea." She muttered sulkily.

"Mai-san, please, Naru can be a bit oblivious at times but betraying his trust-"

"His trust? In what? Lin-san, there's nothing between me and Naru, you know that. I don't have to report back to him on my personal life, I already have to do so for about everything else!"

"Still you need to be careful! I understand Naru's overbearing but you need to remember to be responsible as well."

Mai tossed her hands up in a half-shrug. "Lin-san, please, I'm fine. Even if I was in love with Naru, I can do whatever I want with whoever I want, he doesn't own me. Look I'm sorry if you think I might hurt him in some way but that's just – Naru is an insensitive jerk, I mean he's got his good qualities but I need affection in a relationship so there's no way a relationship between he and I would survive even if it were a possibility – and it's not! I have my own life outside work too, just like everyone else. Just because I'm the youngest doesn't take away that right. And why. Does. Every. One. Think that I'm in love with Naru! Really, I wanna know!" Mai explained at length, frustrated. "Also stop getting such weird ideas about what I'm doing!"

Lin hesitated.

Okay, so it was exactly what it looked like, but he was treating it like he'd caught her in some fling to get Naru's attention, the immature kind that ended with things like pregnancy or drinking. Just because she was only sixteen… the assumptions kind of pissed her off… though honestly the majority of people her age caught in a situation like this, it would be exactly what it looked like or an excuse based on shallow things, but she'd aways been more mature than her age group.

"Vell I'm a jerk too, maybe they just assumed because it's za type you get along vith better than most people." Yurio answered breezily, glancing at her over his shoulder and missing the startled look at the accent.

"Only on the surface! Naru is the kind of person who focuses single-mindedly on one thing, whoever gets hurt in the process of achieving his goal be damned. He has very few lines he wouldn't cross, and fully knows that, he just doesn't care. You," Mai emphasized, pointing, "Are an adorable, misunderstood little poodle puppy with very high defensive walls and you know when to give ambition a rest for the sake of others. It's completely different."

"… Would you _stop_ with za poodle thing?" Yurio requested, tone purely amused but exasperated.

"Never." Mai instantly rejected.

Lin stared, apparently trying to process the situation, but not seeming to want to think about it.

"E-either way I think it best he not know."

"I completely agree. Who knows what he'd do – probably add some sort of you're-not-allowed-to-have-fun-outside-work clause to my contract." Mai affirmed, resigned.

"… Speaking of him… he said for you meet them at the ice."

"Ah – right, I have to teach the others how to not fall on their butts."

"Good luck vith that." Yurio placated, turning to escape back into the room.

"HEY! You have to help you know!"

"No way."

"Yes way! Else you can't go out on the ice at all, Yuuko said no skaters until SPR finishes gathering data remember? That includes when SPR is out on the ice but you aren't, since you're not an SPR member. Buuut, maybe Yuuko would make an exception, if you so kindly volunteered to assist me?"

Yurio paused mid-step, considering.

"She _just_ Zamboni'd it right before they got here so it would be ready for anything they needed."

His hands twitched. _"… Fine!"_

Mai laughed as he switched directions to pick up his shirt – and the nerf guns, so they could take them back on the way – muttering in Russian under his breath.


End file.
